Ground Command - Star Wars: Legion

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Team Analysis - Vanguard

The first round opponents for the Alamo City Fleet is the Vanguard, the first team to form for this tournament. Let's take a look at them as well today.

Members:

Caribbean Ninja - Team Captain

Miferr

Moodswing5537

Possibly another local team, Caribbean Ninja formed the group within 5 hours of the tournament starting. A quarter-finalist, Caribbean Ninja was bounced from the World Cup by the eventual 2nd place, Madaghmire, and brings the veteran leadership to the tournament. Miferr and Moodswing are infrequent posters, who have not yet participated in a vassal tournament.

Lists:

CaribbeanNinja (Captain) - Grand Moff Token

Points: 398/400

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (111 points)

- Grand Moff Tarkin ( 38 points)

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (77 points)

- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (77 points)

- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)

Squadrons: (133 points)

- "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)

- Soontir Fel ( 18 points)

- "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)

- TIE Advanced Squadron ( 12 points)

- Major Rhymer ( 16 points)

- TIE Bomber Squadrons x4 ( 36 points)

- Dengar ( 20 points)

CaribbeanNinja again is flying an Imperial squadron based list, but instead of running just elite squadrons, he's brought an actual bomber group to the fight. Going with VSDs and Tarkin instead of ISDs and Motti, he's banking on extra tokens, and an extra activation, to be what carries the day. He's only bid 398, another bid that's just to keep the opponents honest, he also has deployment advantage of 8, and with Boosted Comms may be able to take advantage of it. Activations sit at a baseline 3.

All of his damage is tied up in short range combat and slow ships, and his Vanilla Rhymer-Ball - don't expect to see him try to match up against fast ships or flankers... oh, wait, he's already matched up against Ardaedhel and his 7 CR90s. Well, there's a reason that's our Match-up of the Week!

Moodswing5537 - Snack Pickles

Points: 397/400

MC80 Command Cruiser (180 points)

- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)

- Engineering Captain ( 6 points)

- Projection Experts ( 6 points)

- Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams ( 6 points)

- Advanced Projectors ( 6 points)

- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

MC80 Command Cruiser (142 points)

- Engineering Captain ( 6 points)

- Projection Experts ( 6 points)

- Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams ( 6 points)

- Advanced Projectors ( 6 points)

- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

CR90 Corvette B (49 points)

- Tantive IV ( 3 points)

- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)

Han Solo ( 26 points)

Almost all ship, fat MC80s, with a single support CR90B handing out tokens. It's an Ackbar list taken to its logical extreme. Advanced Projectors, Projection Experts, Engineering Captains all combine to try and make the MC80s very hard to kill, while H9 Turbolasers, Leading Shots, and Ackbar pour on the damage. Tractor Beams try to hold the opponent in place. Han Solo is the only squadron, and will likely be playing keep-away against any squadron heavy list he comes up against.

Unfortunately for him, he matched up against DourPrize, who is a squadron heavy list, and was absolutely mashed yesterday in a 10-0, 443 MOV loss. Look for him to avoid squadron lists in the future, and rely on his MC80s superior survival skills and medium range firepower to avoid losing many points.

For the numbers, he has a light initiative bid at 397, a weak deployment of 3, and a moderate activation of 3. His list is all about defense of those MC80s, if either one pop, they are easily worth more than most opponent's ships, and his flagship is worth close to double.

miferr - Indepevaris 2

Points: 396/400

MC80 Command Cruiser (138 points)

- General Dodonna ( 20 points)

- Independence (8 points)

- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (69 points)

- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)

- Yavaris ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette A (51 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette A (51 points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

Squadrons: (87 points)

- B-Wing Squadrons x3 ( 42 points)

- X-Wing Squadrons x2 ( 26 points)

- Jan Ors ( 19 points)

If the previous list was themed as all heavy hitter / heavy defense ships, and CaribbeanNinja's list was all about elite squadrons and bombers, this list would be the third way - multiple small ships with decent hitting potential, non-unique squadrons (and Jan Ors) and a flagship geared for squadron commands. 7 deployments, 4 activations, and a moderate bid of 396, this might be the "all commers" list of the team.

CR90As with Turbolaser Reroute Circuits give it some long-range firepower against big, non-evading ships, Yavaris lets the 3 B-Wing Squadrons hit like a sack of bricks, and the Command Cruiser gets them into the fight that much faster. As long as Miferr can keep them all running together in synergy, than he should be a difficult nut to crack.

Overall:

A good spread of lists and archetypes, and very small team bid of only 9 points (1191) means that the Vanguard will likely be getting their first choice of matchups, but lose out on the remaining two. Plus the early loss by Moodswing puts them on the defensive. Can they turn it around and come out of the first round in the positive, or will it be an uphill climb from here on out?

Tune into http://www.twitch.tv/biggsirl on Friday 4th @ 8:30PM EST / 1:30AM GMT Saturday 5th to watch Vanguard's Team Captain Caribbean Ninja match up live against Alamo City Fleet's Team Captain Ardaedhel in our first "Match-up of the Week".